In the Wild West

 
As soon as advertisers book online campaigns that are not performance-based but pursue branding goals, things get complicated. If the success of a campaign is to be measured not only in terms of clicks or transactions, advertisers are faced with various research institutes or marketers who use different methods to measure. Which target group is really reached, which advertising contact has which quality, is often difficult to understand. Mirko Marr, board member and head of research at the industry association IAB Switzerland, did not mince his words at the annual conference of the Swiss Society for Communication and Media Science (SGKM)*: "A Wild West has emerged in the online sector. The question now is: Is the sheriff coming to town?" Werbewoche spoke with Marr about the state of online research and the IAB Switzerland's goal of finding an industry solution.
 
WW: Mirko Marr, "Wild West" in the online sector. Can you be more specific?
Mirko Marr: The digital industry is fascinated by the measurement possibilities that exist in the online space. We have much more detailed access to online usage than to the usage of any other medium. That's great. But: the fascination with measurement has long prevented us from thinking about how to interpret and validate the data. If we want to market online, we have to have the numbers authenticated - as is customary with the other media. 
 
There are several players in the market: Comscore and Net-Metrix, as well as quite a few marketers. Is there any interest at all in unified research?
Certainly, many people are of the opinion that the digital medium does not need any certified figures because everything can be measured. Everything can be observed with tracking methods, from the contact with advertising material to the purchase decision in the online store. But anyone who says this is not aware of the many problems associated with tracking.
 
For example, data protection.
Exactly, one problem is data protection. Another is the completeness, the representativeness of the data. And above all, the measurement must be prepared in a form that the advertiser can process. At the moment, we are looking at impressions delivered. These are gross statistics and therefore not the data quality that clients are used to.
 
What data should be reported in the online instead?
We need information about the reach and contact frequency of a campaign in defined target groups. This is the classic metric accepted in the rest of audience research. We get these numbers by validating delivery statistics with a user-centric approach, classifying ad contacts rather than page views by different target groups.
 
How does this happen?
Via a panel survey or an onsite survey such as that conducted by Net-Metrix. In the latter case, however, only half-yearly data is available. The advantage of standing panels is that we have permanent usage information. This allows us to track campaigns and - something that is not yet possible today - measure campaign success.
 
Until now, marketers have done their own research to calculate the success of a campaign for customers ...
That's great. Marketer research is important. But it pursues a specific interest in each case. An independent industry solution would therefore be desirable. A measurement method and a currency that is accepted by the entire online industry - however incomplete and incomplete it may be. However, there is still a long way to go from marketer research to a common currency.
 
How far along are you in the process?
There are significant international initiatives. For example, the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative in the USA. This is an association of all major clients, publishers and agencies with the aim of defining common measurement standards. At the same time, a Brand Advertising Committee has recently been set up at IAB Europe level. Among other things, this committee is concerned with the definition of generally applicable key figures for digital brand campaigns. In Switzerland, we are currently in the middle of the process of finding an industry consensus. That is challenging. A currency cannot be decreed by decree, but must grow. Incidentally, this was no different with early print research, before Wemf AG für Werbemedienforschung was founded.
 
What does success depend on?
The decisive factor will be how great the pressure from the clients is. Many major advertisers are behind the 3MS initiative in the USA. We're not there yet. How the online share of the advertising market develops will also have an influence. There are currently signs of stagnation in the display sector, in Switzerland at a low level. If this trend is confirmed, the question will quickly come up: Is it perhaps due to the way we measure?
 
Finally, on the subject of mobile: with the change in media usage, the next problem is already just around the corner. Getting user information on mobile is difficult. How are you tackling this difficulty?
It's true that the technical requirements are different in the mobile sector. But the problem is basically the same as in online. We first have to reach a consensus and then integrate the individual channels.
 
That means: Step 1 is a solution for online, followed by mobile?
No, the consensus must apply to all digital areas. For online and mobile, for display formats, for pre-rolls on Internet TV sites, for set-up boxes and so on. The only thing is that the first and most important step is to agree that the online sector must play by the same rules as the other advertising marketers. Unlike in the performance sector, we can't reinvent the rules of the game for brand advertising.
 
Isabel Imper
 
 *The interview was conducted at the annual conference of the Swiss Society for Communication and Media Studies (SGKM). The event took place on April 12 and 13 in Winterthur and dealt with the tension between science and practice. Further information: Sgkm.ch.